About Me

I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl walking on weekend mornings with my father. We'd tell each other stories we'd made up, and I decided that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. How lucky can you get? I've been doing it ever since.
I've also moved a lot, which has given me plenty to write about - I've lived in San Francisco, New York City, Houston TX, York (England) upstate New York, Southern Indiana, midstate Wyoming, midstate South Dakota, and Bozeman MT.
www.elainemariealphin.com

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Friday, June 3, 2011

Sometimes so much happens in a month that it's hard to remember to write about it here. May was that sort of month. Between talking to readers about my books, answering intriguing questions about writing that made me think, celebrating special occasions (my husband's birthday and our anniversary both fall during the month of May), reading several new books by friends and other writers I admire, and writing an entire first draft of a new middle grade historical fiction WIP, May simply disappeared. And here it is June already, and I realize I've written nothing since April! It's not that I haven't been thinking about the writing life, but rather that I've been living it too fully to write about it.

May also brought me some writing good news! An Unspeakable Crime won the Gold Medal in the Juvenile-Teens-YA Nonfiction category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards, otherwise known as an IPPY Award. As one of my friends pointed out: how cool is it to win an award that rhymes with Yippee!!

For those who are interested in the business side of the writing life, most publishers pay writers their royalties twice a year: in April and in October. The royalties in April are paid based on sales figures in the second half of the previous year; and the royalties in October are paid based on sales figures in the first half of that year. Some publishers pay writers on 1 April and some publishers pay writers on 30 April, according to their in-house accounting procedures. So by the time the Post Office delivers my mail, I receive a portion of my royalties in May. That means I found out in May 2011 how my sales in the second half of 2010 went. (Not too badly.) But this May I got a surprise!

My royalties include book sales and subrights rights sales (sales of rights to businesses, as opposed to sales of physical or e-books). Some years ago, a movie company optioned one of my books, Counterfeit Son, and since renewed the option. Well, sometimes in the fall of 2010, they decided to exercise the option, and their payment showed up in my April royalty check, which I received in May. That means my book is going to be the basis for a movie!

It's nervous-making to think what a Hollywood screenwriter will do with Counterfeit Son, but that doesn't affect the money in the bank. I believe Christopher Isherwood never saw *Cabaret* because his friends told him he'd hate it, so he decided to leave the mouths of gift horses alone. Maybe you should get a friend to screen this for you. It could be awhile, anyway. And it could be really good, with a new movie tie-in edition and everything!

Thanks so much, Peni and Anastasia - Peni, your comments reflect my own worries, but as you say, that doesn't affect the money in the bank. And it could be a terrific movie! Definitely, May was a great month for good news. : )

I loved Counterfeit Son--what a great story and how exciting the movie option. I worked with Unspeakable Crime writing curriculum for Janet Allen's Plugged-in to Reading. It's a core novel in a nonfiction kit of books and teaching materials. I learned so much during the process. Thank you and congratulations on the award!